Abitibi Royalties Acquires Additional Royalties East & South of the Canadian Malartic Mine

VAL-D’OR, Québec, July 09, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Abitibi Royalties Inc. (TSX-V:RZZ) (OTC-Nasdaq Intl:ATBYF) (“Abitibi Royalties” or the “Company”) announces that it has entered into an agreement with an arm’s length, third party seller, in order to acquire a 1.5% net smelter royalty (“NSR”) located east and south of the Canadian Malartic Mine in Québec (Fig. 1, 2 & 3), on an area known as the Midway Project. Midway is owned and operated by the Canadian Malartic Mine, a partnership between Agnico Eagle Mines (“Agnico Eagle”) and Yamana Gold (“Yamana”), which acquired the project in 2016. The purchase price paid by the Company for the NSR royalty totals US$575,000 (CDN$752,000), which was paid in cash and from treasury.

The NSR covers Shaft 1 of the formerly producing Malartic Goldfields Mine, which operated from 1939 to 1965, to a depth of approximately 800 metres below surface (Fig. 1). The Malartic Goldfields Mine produced approximately 1.7 million ounces of gold (A breakdown of the gold production covered by the Company’s 1.5% NSR is unknown. Please see the Technical Report link below for an overview of Malartic Goldfields historical production). A decline ramp into the near surface zones, believed to be covered by the Company’s NSR, was most recently advanced up until 2010.

In 2008, Northern Star filed a NI 43-101 resource estimate Technical Report. The Technical Report can be downloaded here. The Technical Report is for informational proposes only, historical in nature and should not be relied upon. The Company’s NSR does not include two claims referenced in the Technical Report (CM306 and CM309). Northern Star’s SEDAR profile contains additional news releases that highlights drill results and underground development after the Technical Reports publication. The Company believes the Midway Project has similar underground bulk tonnage potential as the East Malartic and Odyssey zones, where the Company holds a 3% NSR on portions of the projects and are owned by the Canadian Malartic Mine. In 2017, approximately US$1.3 million was budgeted for 9,000 meters of drilling at Midway.

A total of 1.0% of the NSR can be repurchased by the Canadian Malartic Mine by paying US$1.0 million (CDN$1.3 million based on current exchange rates) to Abitibi Royalties.

QUALIFIED PERSON

Glenn J. Mullan, Chairman, is the Qualified Person (as that term is defined in National Instrument 43-101 – Standards of Disclosure for Minerals Projects) who has reviewed and approved the technical section of this news release, which is based on public information provided by Agnico Eagle, Yamana and Northern Star and without independent verification.

About Abitibi Royalties

Abitibi Royalties holds a 3% NSR on portions of the Odyssey Project, East Malartic, Jeffrey Zone, eastern portions of the Barnat Extension and a 2% NSR on portions of the Gouldie and Charlie zones, all at the Canadian Malartic Mine near Val-d’Or Québec. In addition, the Company is building a portfolio of royalties on early stage properties near producing mines. The Company has approximately CDN$43.2 million in cash and securities and is debt free.

For additional information, please contact:

Forward Looking Statements:

This news release contains certain statements that may be deemed “forward-looking statements”.  Forward looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and are generally, but not always, identified by the words “expects”, “plans”, “anticipates”, “believes”, “intends”, “estimates”, “projects”, “potential” and similar expressions, or that events or conditions “will”, “would”, “may”, “could” or “should” occur.  Although the Company believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results or realities may differ materially from those in forward looking statements. Forward looking statements are based on the beliefs, estimates and opinions of the Company’s management on the date the statements are made.  Except as required by law, the Company undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements in the event that management’s beliefs, estimates or opinions, or other factors, should change.                                                                                                   

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.

Fig. 1 Newly Acquired Midway Royalty

Fig. 2 Abitibi Royalties Holdings – Canadian Malartic Mine

Fig. 3 Abitibi Royalties Holdings – Abitibi Region